It's a dramatic life I lead.

Overcoming Incompetence – My Road to Recovery

I’m terrible with money. The worst. Being thrifty does not come the least bit naturally to me. It’s true, I do so enjoy perusing the aisles of grocery stores, but not with the purpose of comparison shopping. I can’t explain my love of the neighborhood grocer, it’s just one of those inexplicably charming things about me, I s’pose. And of course samples are always a bonus.

But no, I’m not one to shop smartly. My go-to money-saving tactic is to not spend any money for as long as possible – maybe a week or more at a time – at which point I likely have several errands to run, and so spend a good deal of the money I haven’t saved, but rather have consolidated, and then while I’m out I simply must treat myself to a few extras (namely coffee and snacks) because, as I assure myself, I’m worth it.

But this post isn’t about that. No no, today is about My Road to Recovery. I’ve actually been getting better about knowing just how much money I have and what I should and shouldn’t spend it on throughout the month so that there’s a decent amount left over at the end. (And if it’s a really good month there’s a little something for the travel fund.)

This brings us to last night. I looked at my credit card statement online, and saw once again this funny looking charge for $19.95 that just shouldn’t be there. Something fishy was going on, and while it may have taken an embarrassingly long time to realize that was there and, in fact, credit card fraud, no one takes $99.75 from me over a period of five months and gets away with it. Ha!

I took my case straight to the Better Business Bureau and read that this company – Vertrue – has earned itself an F on their scale, and hundreds of people have had claims just like mine successfully resolved through the BBB. I have filed my own complaint and vowed to have the ultimate revenge (a full refund).

Obviously I could not be more pleased with myself than I am at this moment. On the other hand, I’m mortified that this happened. Probably more so because this isn’t actually the first time I’ve missed an unusual charge…oops. At least now that I’ve caught it I’ve been able to do something about it. I feel quite empowered and I will of course update you on the progress of my claim the moment something happens.